Doctor Who Jenna-Louise Coleman ‘thrilled to be working with Matt Smith’

Doctor Who’s new companion Emmerdale star Jenna-Louise Coleman has revealed she is ‘thrilled’ to be replacing Karen Gillan and working with Matt Smith.

Emmerdale actress Jenna-Louise Coleman is set to take over after Amy Pond (played by Karen Gillan) leaves Doctor Who in series 7 episode 5, Steven Moffat has revealed (Picture: ITV)

The 25-year-old actress – who was shopping in Marks & Spencers when she heard the good news – told BBC: ‘I’m just beyond excited and I’m so pleased that the news is out because it’s a secret I’ve been keeping for quite a while now.

‘I had the most enormous ridiculous amount of fun in the auditions so the fact that I’m going to be working with Matt and Steven and the team day in, day out, is fantastic.

‘It’s a huge privilege. I am yet to hear what the plans are for the rest of this series and what storylines will take place but I’m very excited about that.’

Show creator Steven Moffat said Jenna-Louise performed well in her screen test and displayed good chemistry with Smith.

‘We saw a lot of brilliant actresses. But Jenna was the only person going faster than Matt – he had to keep up!’ he explained.

Coleman is best known for playing Jasmine Thomas in Emmerdale and is to take a chief role in Julian Fellowes’ upcoming retelling of the Titanic disaster, in which she plays feisty servant Annie Desmond.

The news puts paid to rumours circulating recently that Sophia Myles was to fill the hole left by the departing Amy Pond after she was spotted filming in Spain at the same time as the Doctor Who cast. Rory actor Arthur Darvill had also tweeted her at this time, saying: ‘great to meet you. I think I ran off at the end. Good times. Big love. X’.

Myles has appeared in Doctor Who before and though her character was killed off a time travel scenario is not out of the question, suggesting she may make a guest appearance even though she is not the chosen companion.

Coleman can look forward to an exciting time on the show, with the Doctor’s most recent companion Karen Gillan saying: ‘We have so much fun. It’s so life-consuming, but in the most wonderful way.

‘We film pretty much every day, for nine months of the year, so it’s basically your life. And when you’re not filming it, you’re promoting it and talking about it, so it really does take over your life.’

There will be 6 episodes of Doctor Who this year, including the Christmas Special. Then 8 will follow in 2013 with Jenna’s character first seen at Christmas.